Commuting from South Coast to London

[farleigh]

Hi,

I hope this thread is in the right place and people won't mind responding to it.
My wife currently commutes by car (1 hour per day). Neither of us have commuted by rail before.

She has a job offer in London which is a £10 000 pay rise but would mean commuting from Hastings to London. She is weighing up whether to accept it.

Asides from the costs, is there any advice, experience and guidance that people can offer about this journey and how to make it as easy as possible. Thanks in advance for any help that people can offer.

 

[yorkie]

I hope this thread is in the right place .....

It is now!

She has a job offer in London which is a £10 000 pay rise but would mean commuting from Hastings to London....

What part of London? What time does she have to be there for? A seat from Hastings should be no issue; the train will fill up later.

Here is a link showing various direct services to London departing on a typical weekday morning after 0500: http://www.fastjp.com/#journeys?ori...C&odate=20180423&otime=0500&maxres=20&maxch=0

 

[telstarbox]

That's 3 hours each way on the trains - it might be worth reading some of the comments on this article before you commit.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2...ve-out-of-london-if-it-means-a-pricey-commute

Do you need to commute to work as well?

 

[ar10642]

From a money point of view you probably want to use something like the listentotaxman website to work out what the take home pay would be after tax and NI, then take off the cost season ticket (I assume approaching £5k) and see if you're actually any better off. £10k seems borderline to me depending on the tax bracket she's in.

In terms of reliability, be glad it's not a Southern/GTR train. Although you have that as a backup if the Hastings main line is disrupted.

 

[farleigh]

Thanks for responses so far - very grateful! We will look at the links tonight. Thanks Yorkie for placing it the correct thread

In answer to points:

What part of London? What time does she have to be there for? - London Bridge for 08:45

Do you need to commute to work as well? Not currently but that may change.

 

[Starmill]

That's 3 hours each way on the trains

There are morning and evening peak services available for travel between London Bridge and Hastings at less than 1h50 each way.

To arrive at London Bridge in time for 0845, the last train she could consider taking is the 0703 which is due to arrive at 0839. To be safe, the 0643 from Hastings may be better, as this arrives at 0822, with the 0703 as a back-up. Both of these trains run fast from High Brooms to London Bridge too. A seat is near guaranteed from Hastings although sitting in a 3+2 section (which is the whole of standard class on a small number of class 375 units) for such a long time would probably be very uncomfortable.

I assume that this is too early, but there is an unusually fast evening train from London Bridge back to Hastings which only calls at High Brooms, Tonbridge Wells, Battle, St Leonard's Warrior Square and Hastings at 1626 taking just 1h 24. Later trains in the evening peak take somewhat longer.

 

[farleigh]

This is brilliant - thanks Starmill

 

[Starmill]

I guess it also depends how close you live to the station. If you only live a few minutes walk away, being there for 0640ish every day might be OK if it means getting out of bed at 0600 or say 0555. But if you live further away or can't get there in time for that then it could be pretty draining getting up before 6 every day. If she can make it back to London Bridge in time for the 1724 then that arrives at Hastings at 1855, so you would be looking at leaving before 0700 and arriving after 1900 every weekday. Some people will be more amenable to that than others. Then there are delays to consider.

An Annual Season ticket is likely to be the cheapest option if you can afford it or if a loan might be available from the employer at £5,156. There are also Gold Card benefits from that. I have to say I would consider this very carefully. I don't know what her current travel-to-work costs are but I bet they are a lot lower than that. It immediately removes half of the extra pay of the new job. Of course there could be significant non-pecuniary benefits to taking the job.

 

[yorkie]

If she is unsure, get a 'monthly' season to last for, say, 5 weeks (any period over a calendar month can be calculated).

It can start on a Monday (or whenever) and finish on a Friday.

 

[farleigh]

Thanks again for replies - we will be looking at them all in detail this evening. I am really grateful for your help (as of course is my wife) in making a tough decision.

 

[JamesRowden]

I think one needs to add a cost to one's time spent commuting. One should seriously consider the option of relocating closer to one's place of work.

 

[farleigh]

Thanks again for replies - we will be looking at them all in detail this evening. I am really grateful for your help (as of course is my wife) in making a tough decision.

 

[farleigh]

Thanks again for replies - we will be looking at them all in detail this evening. I am really grateful for your help (as of course is my wife) in making a tough decision.
Thanks again for replies - we will be looking at them all in detail this evening. I am really grateful for your help (as of course is my wife) in making a tough decision.